Through Fresh Eyes
by garciprent
Summary: A new agent joins the BAU. Drama unfolds
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one – A new agent

The butterflies danced around her insides as the elevator climbed further toward the 6th floor where the BAU was situated. This was the day that all the training had been for. During the training if she made a mistake, it mattered, but not nearly as much as it would if she made a mistake in the field. This was the real deal!

As the elevator doors opened she spotted tall, dark haired, handsome man that was waiting to show her around. His serious expression subsided into a small but genuine smile as he offered a hand & said, "You must be Agent Harvey. I'm Agent Hotchner." "Nice to meet you Agent Hotchner." she managed to squeak as she tried to match his firm handshake. "Are you nervous?" he asked with another smile. "Is it that obvious?" she responded. He chuckled slightly, "I just remember how terrified I was on my first day with the BAU. You're working with profilers now, you should probably get used to your colleagues being able to figure out what's going through your mind." If he was trying to put her at ease it wasn't really working. Although his manner was very much all business & quite serious, there was a gentle side that shone through as it was obvious he was trying to make her feel comfortable.

As he ushered her through the glass doors into the bullpen, the pleasant smell of new carpet & furniture polish came over her. He waved towards empty desks as he was explaining where each team member usually sat. "Follow me & I'll introduce you to the team." he said as they walked up the stairs & across the landing towards the room at the end where the very bubbly laughter was coming from.

They walked through the door to find a muscley, coffee coloured agent, who'd obviously missed his chair, sat on the floor while a very quirky, colourfully dressed agent sat in her chair laughing hysterically. And a Brunette agent stood over her colleague & chuckled a sarcastic "Very smooth!" towards the agent on the floor who was now turning a shade of red. Three other agents sat shaking their heads as they smiled at their colleagues' antics. These seemed the more serious three, an older agent with a glint of mischief in his eye, a very young, studious 'school boy looking' agent, & a blonde mother type agent who rolled her eyes as she looked towards Agent Hotchner.

A smile danced at the corner of his mouth, but he decided on the more serious approach. "Agents, I'd like you to meet our newest team member, Agent Amy Harvey." Pointing towards the smiling faces he announced, "These are Agents Emily Prentiss, Derek Morgan, David Rossi, Jennifer Jareau, Penelope Garcia & Dr Spencer Reid."

Amy realised the butterflies had settled as she could definitely see herself fitting in with this playful bunch.

Agent Prentiss raced over to her & said "As the last member to join this team, I would like to say a big thank you to you!" Emily threw her arms around the new agent & said through mock sobs, "I'm not the newbie anymore!" Letting Amy go she said through a big smile, "I'm just kidding. Honestly, this is a great place to work." Amy chuckled, "First impressions, I'm really gonna like it here."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two – The Case

The call came through from Baltimore that they needed the BAU's help urgently with a case. Since a 15 year old girl had been missing for 6 hours already, Hotch had instructed the team to board the jet & they would be briefed in the air. It had been stressed more than once since the call was taken that time was very precious in cases of missing persons. It was the third case of it's kind that Baltimore had suffered recently.

Amy took the seat next to Rossi, opposite Hotch & Prentiss. Morgan, JJ & Reid gathered around as Hotch started to explain the case. "I'm sorry to throw you in at the deep end Amy but we really must move quickly on this case. I would have liked to be able to take more time showing you the details of how we work a case for your first one, but I'm afraid time is a luxury we don't have." "No problem sir! If I have any questions I'll just ask." "Please do, all of us will help you." the senior agent said as he glanced toward his team.

He continued "This is the third case of it's kind. The first victim, Sarah Harper, went missing on the 17th of last month, a Friday around lunchtime. School friends say she usually goes home for lunch, but that day she'd had an argument with her parents so when she didn't turn up at home her parents just thought she'd made other lunch arrangements so she didn't have to face them. They called the police when she didn't turn up after school & she wasn't at her friends'. She was found dead on the Sunday by a man walking his dog through the local park. She'd been beaten repeatedly to the face & strangled." "Any sign of sexual assault?" asked a concerned Prentiss. "No, not with either of the victim actually. The second victim is Julia Whedon, 17 years old. She went missing Monday 4th of this month & she was found dead on the Wednesday, again in the local park." Morgan asked "What were the circumstances around Julia's disappearance?" As he looked through the file for the answer Hotch said "Her mom said Julia walked to the local store to pick up some groceries. She'd been upset over a break up with her boyfriend recently, so her mom wasn't surprised when she took a little longer than usual. After a couple of hours when there was still no sign of her she called the police. She was found 3 days later having also been beaten to the face & strangled." Reid asked "Were the girls from the same neighbourhood?" "Yes" "And what about the third victim?" "Zoe Borden was also from the same neighbourhood. Each girl lived about two blocks away from each other." "And was Julia found in the same park as Sarah?" "Yes, different areas but the same park." "Is there a map in the file?" As he handed Reid the map Hotch asked "Do you have an idea?" "I'm not sure. I'll have a look & let you know."

While Reid worked his magic with the map, the others looked at the photos of the crime scenes. Something struck each of them as they looked at the victims' faces. Amy vocalised their realisation, "These girls look almost identical." "So this guy has a very specific type." observed Rossi, "Did the victims know each other?" Hotch answered after flicking through the file again, "Their paths don't seem to cross & no mention is made of them knowing each other. The only things they seem to have in common are where they live & the resemblance to one another."

"Hotch!" All faces turned towards Reid as he lifted his head up from the map he'd been studying carefully, "I may have found something. There's a fair distance between where the girls live & the park they were found in. To transport a body that far would almost certainly draw attention. There's a street exactly halfway between the park & where the girls lived. Maybe that would be a good place to start." "Good thinking Reid! JJ, can you call Detective Bellamy & run it by him? I don't want him to feel we're taking over. We need to question potential witnesses &, with his permission, we can do that as soon as we land." With phone already in hand JJ replied, "I'm on it!"

Hotch addressed the group again, "Due to the lack of time & the area we need to cover, we'll go individually from door to door. Man power is very short at the Baltimore station so maybe we can concentrate on this. Amy as it's your first day I'm going to put you with Emily. Ask people if they recognise the girls or if they saw anything out of the ordinary around the time of the attacks. It's quite a big street by the looks of things so we need to move quickly & stay focussed. This street might not hold the answer but it's certainly a good starting point, well done Reid!"

JJ returned to the group, "We have the go ahead from Detective Bellamy. I rang Garcia & she's going to send recent photos of each girl to each of us so we can show potential witnesses." "Thank you JJ." replied Hotch, "We should be landing soon & we need to get to work straight away. This unsub works quickly, he hasn't kept a girl for more than 3 days so there's a strong chance Zoe is still alive."

Morgan started flicking through the files on Sarah & Julia, "Hotch, there isn't much detail in the files on the state the bodies were found in. That would give us a lot more of an idea about the unsub." "The original autopsy reports must be with Baltimore P.D, someone's made notes about the report though. If we don't have the original report we could at least do with more detail. Morgan, can you meet with the coroner & contact us us with more information?" "Will do!" "Everyone else", Hotch said with half a smile, "Let's get cracking."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The butterflies returned to Amy's stomach as the team were on their way to Winchester Drive, the street directly between the victims' houses & the dump site. JJ picked up on her nerves, "Don't worry", said the blonde agent through a sympathetic smile, "All of us were nervous on our first case. Just remember we work as a team so you're not on your own! The pressure isn't on you to solve the case by yourself, it's a group effort." This made Amy feel slightly better.

"And don't worry", said Dave from the driver's seat, "Emily seems to have got up on the correct side of bed this morning, so you're safe for now." Emily raised an eyebrow & winked at Amy as she said towards the senior agent in the front, "That's right. You've got another 12 days until that point in my cycle, so watch out!" The men all made a disgusted face & kept quiet. Emily nudged Amy & half whispered "If ever you need to shut these guys up, just bring that up & they'll keep quiet every time." "Good to know."

They reached Winchester Drive & got straight to work. It was a big street so the team split up & worked towards each other from opposite ends. It was taking a long time to cover the area, & everyone they spoke to seemed to recognise the girls but not be of much help.

Morgan had gotten more joy with the coroner. He called the team to let them know that the beatings to the face on both girls were made post-mortem. This meant the unsub had a severe hatred for women. As the girls were already dead when they were beaten, the beating wasn't out of necessity but anger.

Emily & Amy's fourth house to visit was that of Meg Jameson, who invited them in straight away. Emily began, "Mrs Jameson, have you ever seen any of these girls before?" Studying the pictures carefully she answered, "Yes, they've all at some point gone to the school around the corner." "Did you know any of them personally?" asked Amy. "A lot of the school kids pass by my house on the way to school. I often tend to my garden in the afternoon as they're making their way back home. Some of them, usually those walking alone, would talk to me, maybe even ask advice on situations. It could be that these girls were ones who'd spoken to me. I can't remember though, but I definitely recognise them."

Emily sat up straighter in her chair, "Something you just said about the girls asking advice on situations", she turned to look at Amy, "Each girl had something on her mind when she disappeared. One had a fight with her parents, another had just broken up with a boyfriend & Zoe Borden was stressed about exams." Amy looked at her colleague & nodded, "You think the unsub could have preyed on that?" "It's possible. Maybe the unsub was someone they knew, even trusted. I'll call Hotch & let him know."

Mrs Jameson disappeared into the kitchen to make the agents some lemonade while Emily tried ringing Hotch. "There's no cell service in here." said the frustrated brunette agent, "I'll just try outside."

As Emily stepped outside to call Hotch, Amy gazed around the dated living room. 'Mrs Jameson seems lonely.' she thought to herself as she gazed at the photos along the sideboard. There were no recent photos, only old ones. So it seems that in recent years she hadn't had anyone she felt close enough to that she wanted to be reminded of. No children, grandchildren, only photos that seem to date back to when she was young. One particular photo caught her eye. It was six people, five boys between the ages of 15-21, & a girl who was about 13 years old. The thing that caught Amy's attention was how much the girl looked exactly like the victims. She picked up the photo for a closer look, 'It can't be coincidence', she thought to herself. She was in the house of the unsub!

She turned towards the door to leave, but as she took her first step she felt the pain of a heavy object against her skull. As she cradled her head in her hands she tried to rise to her feet. Mrs Jameson struck her again. The pain was immense, nothing like Amy had ever felt before. And there was worse to come! Mrs Jameson took Amy's gun from her hip. She crouched down beside Amy & whispered "If it weren't for your friend outside I'd shoot you right now. And just to make sure you don't try & warn her..." she plunged a knife deep into Amy's side & continued, "...That should stop you getting up."

Amy passed out from the pain. Half a minute later she regained consciousness & fought to stay awake. The unsub was making her way towards Emily...with Amy's gun!

Amy knew she had to do something & so she fought against the pain with everything she had! She crawled agonisingly across the floor towards the door. She could see Emily still on the phone with her back to the house, the unsub inching into position. Amy pulled herself to the front entrance of the house, just in time to see the unsub raise the gun towards Agent Prentiss. The shot rang out around the quiet neighbourhood.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

Hotch literally jumped as he heard the shot on the other end of the phone. He then heard the clunk of the phone being dropped to the ground.

"Emily?" His stomach turned as he waited for an answer, "Emily, answer me!" No answer came. He ran towards the area he knew Prentiss & Harvey were covering, all the while praying for his agents to be safe. As he rounded the corner his stomach dropped as he saw the two seemingly lifeless bodies, each in a growing pool of blood.

He could hear the wail of sirens in the distance getting closer. Many of the neighbours stood looking on in shock & horror. As Hotch moved closer to the scene, he could see that Amy was still alive despite her injuries & was barely conscious. He looked at the second body & there was no mistaking the fatal wound she had sustained.

Hotch looked up to see Rossi, Reid & JJ hurrying over, the look of horror on all of their faces. Hotch met Rossi's eye "She's dead", the older man just nodded somberly. "Hotch!" he turned to see a stunned looking Emily next to Amy, "We need some help here."

"An ambulance is on it's way."

"She saved me Hotch!" Emily said through tears as she clutched the new agent's hand.

"I know." he bent down & placed a comforting hand on Emily's shoulder, "Can you stay with her until help arrives?" Not trusting her emotions, Emily just nodded.

"Emily, what was the unsub's name?"

"Meg Jameson." Hotch headed back towards the others, "Reid, call Garcia & get her to find out everything she can on Meg Jameson. We need to find Zoe, there's a chance she's still alive."

"Ok."

"JJ, can you call Detective Bellamy, let him know our unsub's dead but Zoe's still out there somewhere."

"On it!"

"Rossi, you come with me, we'll sweep the house & look for any signs of Zoe. If we're lucky she'll be here somewhere, if not we'll wait on information from Garcia."

"Right behind you."

As they turned back towards the house they heard tyres screech. They turned to see Morgan looking around in disbelief. "What happened?"

Hotch gave Rossi a nod to let him know to go ahead without him. The former then turned his attention back to Morgan & explained what happened as best he could. "I'll get more information from Emily later, she's still shaken up."

Morgan blew out a breath as he took it all in, "Where do you want me?"

"The ambulance is just arriving for Amy. If Prentiss travels along with Amy, can you follow the ambulance to the hospital?" Taking in the body language of the female profiler he said, "Emily seems to be blaming herself for what happened, see if you can reason with her."

"Will do Hotch."

"Thanks."

Hotch turned back toward the house. Once inside he found a very frustrated Rossi. "There's no sign of her Hotch! The amount of damage to the bodies would suggest she had a lot of privacy, like a basement or an attic, but there's nothing! If she attacked them here the neighbours would definitely known something was going on, but judging from the shock on their faces out there, they never suspected a thing!"

"You're right, she wouldn't be able to kill them here & then transport the body without drawing attention. I'll speak to Reid & see if he found anything from Garcia."

As if on cue, Reid appeared with phone in hand, "Garcia, I'm gonna put you on speaker-phone, tell Hotch & Rossi what you just told me."

Garcia took a breath & began, "Ok so Meg Jameson, originally Margaret Johnson, was the youngest of six children to Joseph & Grace Johnson, she was the only girl. She changed her name when she moved to Baltimore when she was 17 years old. Her mother died shortly after Margaret was born. And (sigh) this was where the trouble started for Margaret. While she was alive her mother was beaten terribly and, going by medical records, that's what contributed to her death. No need for me to tell you that Mr Johnson had little to no respect for women. Being raised by a man like that & being the only girl, she really stood no chance of a normal upbringing, whatever you consider that to be. Margaret became the new outlet for her father's anger, being hospitalised numerous times after beatings. It seems the neighbours would get her medical help after said beatings, but all medical records after she was 7 years old seem to stop &, I'm guessing based on the type of man he was, the beatings didn't stop he just found a way to hide it. There are police statements made by neighbours that seem to suggest her brothers also took turns in beating her."

Hotch pondered this for a second, "If the beatings were in such a way that the neighbours stepped in to help, the father would not have liked this. He would feel the need to control the environment."

"Sir?"

"Yes Garcia?"

"With all respect to the way you do your job sir, how is this going to help us find the missing girl?"

Garcia braced herself for a sharp reply, but instead got a calm response.

"You mentioned the medical records stopped showing beatings past age 7, correct?"

"Yes sir."

"Garcia I think you're right, he wouldn't have suddenly stopped, I think he did just hide it. See if you can find any properties in the father's name around the that time. This would have given him the privacy he needed."

The team could hear the frantic clicks on the keyboard as they waited for for an answer. "He didn't own any property but he did work as a farm hand &, judging by the location, this would have provided a lot of privacy."

"Good job Garcia. Who does the farm belong to?"

"The farm belongs to a Howard Rushden but, oh no!"

"Garcia?"

"One of the barns was bought separately & now belongs to Meg Jameson."

As he lead the team back out of the house Hotch said "Garcia, send us the address of the barn. I'll have JJ inform the local police & get them to meet us there."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update this story! A few of my other ones have been calling to me more and I'm afraid this one kinda got a bit forgotten.**

Back at the hospital, Emily and Derek waited on news of Amy who was in surgery. Prentiss continued to stare at the floor, "I should never have left her on her own!" she whispered.

Morgan took her hand, "Hey, don't do that. This is NOT your fault!"

"Morgan, if I'd stayed in there with her..."

"Then you would both be dead right now. The only reason she didn't shoot Amy was because if she did, it would have alerted you and Meg Jameson wouldn't have stood a chance."

"Still, I should not have left her like that."

"Prentiss, listen to me," he waited until she gave him eye contact, "Its because you went outside that she is still alive."

She knew he was right, but it didn't take away the fact that here she sat, as healthy as she was when she woke that morning, while Amy lay on an operating table with her life in the hands of the doctors after being severely wounded...on her first day with the BAU!

"Morgan, I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, I do. But today has been terrible! First of all Amy gets attacked by the unsub and, is still as we speak fighting to survive that. And second, I killed somebody today. I know I had no choice but, I took a life."

"I thought Amy shot the unsub."

"No, I was on the phone with my back to the house while the unsub aimed her gun at me. Amy called out as loud as she could and I spun round just in time to take out the unsub before she got me."

"Wow, you have had a hell of a day Emily Prentiss. But none of this is your fault!" Emily continued to stare at the floor.

"Emily, you and Amy were the only ones paired up right? Everyone else went solo?"

"Yeah, Hotch didn't want her on her own on her first day."

"Ok, so we should be glad that you and Amy called on the unsub & no one else. If it had been anyone else we would no question have lost a member of the team & the unsub would have gotten away."

"I guess. I didn't think of that!"

"Well you just remember that the next time you decide to blame yourself for any of this."

"Thanks Morgan."

Just as Emily was starting to a bit better, she spotted the doctor heading towards them, and jumped to her feet. She didn't wait for the doctor to reach them, "How is she?"

"She's going to be just fine. There doesn't seem to be any lasting damage from the blows to the head but I'd have to do some scans to be sure. Our priority was to repair the bleeding, which we've done. She did lose quite a bit of blood so she will be weak for a while. We have her on various medications to get her blood count back up, which seem to be working really well. We will be keeping her in for a few days to make sure she is definitely on the mend, but it's only precautionary." Then with a comforting smile he added, "She'll be just fine."

After giving Emily a reassuring smile, Morgan asked the doctor, "When can we see her?"

"She still hasn't come round from the anaesthetic, but it's probably a good idea for someone to be there when she wakes up. If you follow me I'll take you through."

"Prentiss, you go ahead. I'll wait for the others."

"Thanks Morgan."

After watching Emily and the doctor disappear down the corridor, Morgan took out his phone and called Hotch.

"Hotchner."

"Hey Hotch, we've just spoken with the doctor and Amy's gonna be just fine. She's out of surgery but they're keeping her for observation."

"That's great news. Zoe's safe. Before we even got there, Baltimore PD found her at the barn belonging to the unsub. We're on our way back to you now."

"Ok Hotch, see you when you get here. I'm gonna go see if Amy's woken up."

**A/N: This story is coming to it's end now, not there yet but almost! Please let me know what you think, good or bad I would love to hear it!**


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